Why is Drinking Water at risk?

Our blue planet is mostly water. But very little of that water is potable fresh water - the kind of water we can drink, bathe in, and use in our homes. In fact, only 1% of all the water in the world is available fresh water.

It may seem obvious, but the total amount of water on the Earth, and in the atmosphere, is constant. We can’t “make” more water on Earth. The Earth’s total water is either up in the clouds, frozen at the poles, in the oceans, rivers and lakes, in the ground, or – most important for us - in our reservoirs and public utility water delivery and treatment systems. Every drop out of your faucet at home means there’s less fresh water somewhere else.

So combine that concept with the limited amount of potable water on Earth, plus growing cities and developing nations, and you get a picture of the difficult balance that exists in worldwide water usage. In North America, we use more water per capita than most of the world.

Our local reservoirs should be seen as a resource as delicate as a salmon stream. Please do all you can to reduce your overall water usage, to keep your wastewater lines as clean as possible, and to spread the word about water conservation.